The present invention relates generally to a baler for forming cylindrical bales of crop material, commonly referred to as a round baler, and more particularly to an improvement in a crop pickup apparatus for a round baler having lateral converging apparatus working in conjunction with a pickup that is wider than the bale forming chamber inlet.
Round balers rely on a pickup apparatus with a set of tines that engage a windrow of crop material on the ground and lift it upwardly and then urge it rearwardly to a transverse infeed opening into a bale-forming chamber. Pressure to increase efficiency in crop packaging operations has resulted in the prevalence of crop pickup units that are significantly wider than the bale forming chamber into which the crop material is fed. A wider pickup allows the baler to handle wider crop windrows and also results in better crop fill at the lateral extremes of the resultant bale. Historically, wide pickups have incorporated augers situated at the extremes of the pickup width to converge the crop laterally inwardly to achieve a width of the crop mat being fed into the bale chamber that is approximately the same as the chamber width. Longitudinal space for the converging augers generally requires an elongated feed table, increasing the distance the crop must travel between the pickup tines and the bale chamber inlet opening. A secondary feed mechanism, such as a stuffer or rotor, is often necessary to convey the converged crop mat along the lengthened feed table and into the bale chamber.
Although quite effective, secondary feed mechanisms often add complexity and cost. Without them, the potential for clogging the bale chamber infeed opening increases. Efforts to eliminate the secondary feed mechanism have focused on minimizing the distance between the pickup tines and the crop inlet opening. While such designs may reduce the need for a secondary feed mechanism, the benefits may be offset by the increased complexity in the converging apparatus and/or the pickup apparatus as it becomes necessary to alter tine extension as the tines rotate on the reel.
It would be a great advantage to provide a simple secondary feed mechanism for use on a round baler having a pickup unit substantially wider than the bale forming chamber that could interact with the existing tine reel and converging apparatus to efficiently convey crop material from the ground to the bale-forming chamber with reduced incidence of clogging that overcomes the above problems and limitations.